BRAAP

Mostly, the Z-32 is fairly easy and intuitive to work on. I have upgraded my brakes, struts, bushings, some interior work, stereo upgrade etc, hard wired the V-1 radar locator, all with not much screaming or yelling. Everything went quite smoothly. The only real problem I have with working on the Z-32 is that 3 square acre upper intake plenum that covers EVERYTHING in the engine bay and restricts access to everything under it, (that would be the entire engine!). Most things require removing the intake plenum to get at, like the valve cover gaskets for example if they are leaking, (they ALL leak after approx 1000,000 miles). Well, it is less effort and is actually easier and less expensive to remove the entire engine from the car than it is to remove the upper plenum with the engine in the car! Just to get to the valve cover gaskets!!! With the engine out of the car, then the plenum is not as much of a headache, but still a pain in the arse. Then while the engine is out, the rear main seal is right there, water pump, front main seal, EGR, misc water hoses, and any other gaskets/seals that are hard to get to, etc. etc. etc.. ($$ka-ching.$$. ka-ching…$$ )

Congratulations, Dad. Just live your life in a way that you would want your son to emulate, show constant loving positive affection towards him and his mother, especially in front of him and don’t spare discipline. You and your future wife are, and will always, be blessed. God Bless, Paul, Krystin, Meshaelyn, Lelaina, and Isabella Ruschman

I’ll give my $.02 The Z-32 is and absolute blast to drive, sexy styling, etc. Especially one that runs 12’s. Though I sometimes refer to the Z-32 as being fragile, a more accurate statement would be that they require continual big dollar maintenance, whether that maintenance be routine or the unexpected unscheduled use of the tow truck. In regards to the Z-32 you are looking at, it is obviously owned by a performance enthusiast and the list looks as though most if not all common issue’s (belts, injectors etc. These cars eat their injectors for breakfast, lunch and dinner), have already been tended to, but those common maintenance items will need attention at some point in the future again. Also, the Turbo cars with the added under hood heat, is hard on the aging under hood wiring, (that is THE reason I bought an N/A car over a TT), and bad connections are VERY common, (even on the N/A cars, just more so on the TT cars), causing everything from erratic intermittent drivability issues to down right engine shut down. There are near future plans to cure this particular N/A cars lack of torque… I could go on and on about my first two Z-32’s and the rental cars I put WAY more miles on than the Z-32's due to the common maintenance issues. I’ll spare you that saga as it is already posted elsewhere … As for the Z-31… It is a lot less expensive initially, not as fun in regards to performance after reading the bio of the Z-32, and it may need a bunch of money thrown at it to bring it up to “reliable, dependable” daily driver status, i.e. something that wont leave you stranded along the side the freeway.

Wolf V500 here.. (controlling 8 injectors on a supercharged SBC 350 with DIS...)

Max, My point in stating the individual parts was that the VH45DE head is 1/3 AGAIN longer than the VG30DE head and as such also has 1/3 again that many more parts which all have some weight. If they didn’t have any extra weight, than the VG30DE head wouldn’t weigh anything, but I digress.. The head port air thing would only hold water if the heads being compared were the same physical size, i.e. same length. They are not. Remember, the V-8 heads on the VH45DE are 1/3 again LONGER than the V-6 heads of the VG30DE. Do all the math about the open air ports etc, if the head is 1/3 again longer and also contains 1/3 again more parts than the other head, then there should be approx 1/3 again more weight, or at least close to that due to actual design differences. Individual con rods and pistons will be comparable to each other in weight and what little difference there is between them is going to be negligible at best, i.e. not 100 lbs or even 10 lbs worth. The VH45DE has a bore of, 93mm, (3.66”) the VG30DE bore is 87mm, (3.43”). that is alomst 1/4" MORE bore/piston area. Pistons for the VH45 will be slightly heavier each and the VH45DE has 2 more of those heavier pistons. The slight weight increase in piston size is really of no consequence, but the fact that there are 2 more of those parts is! Also 2 more con rods! Also, more block casting material that contains those 2 extra pistons, rods, and longer crankshaft, etc. I would concede that those components could easily make up 50 lbs. No argument there. Too funny. The Q-45 TB is another thread altogether.. Also, the VH45DE has TWO timing CHAINS where as the VG30DE has one lightweight timing belt. Also, the VH45DE has cast timing chain covers vs the VG30DE plastic and stamped tin timing belt cover. Not too mention that the VH45DE is 1/3 again longer and contains 1/3 again more moving parts internally, (is there and echo in here?....) Now if that 1/3 MORE parts and material is LIGHTER, I’d be VERY surprised… Here is an exploded view of the VH45DE timing chain and covers… First off, the pistons are indeed aluminum, or at least an alloy of aluminum. Secondly, both the VG30DE AND the VH45DE block are both CAST blocks. The VG30DE block is cast iron, the VH45DE is cast aluminum. Yes, aluminum is lighter for a given volume of material, BUT being as it is not as strong, when aluminum is used as an engine block, it is cast thicker to make up for its inherent lack of strength compared to a cast iron version. Now back the VH45DE vs the VG30DE block (AGAIN!), being as the VH45DE block is 1/3 again longer, my argument is that 1/3 more mass will AT LEAST offset any and all weight savings that the aluminum block had by virtue of the material it was cast from. Now the VH45DE heads ARE heavier, period! They are longer and have more parts, material etc. There are two more pistons, rods, extra crankshaft length, TWO timing chains, cast timing covers vs the lightweight single timing belt of the VG30DE, and stamped tin, and 1/3 less moving internal components etc… The VH45DE isn't just a little bigger, it is physially 1/3 again longer than the VG30DE, Taller than the VG30DE and wider than the VG30DE, (45 degree included angle vs 60 degrees). So the real question here then is… how and where did Nissan inject all that helium into the VH45DE to make it so much lighter than the VG30DE?

Sorry guys, I’m still not buying it for a minute. Doesn’t anyone have any actual side by side empirical data to prove or disprove either way? All anyone has posted, including myself, is just theory and other threads which don’t support squat either way. I have been wanting to purchase a strain gauge just for weighing engines and the like. This thread has me so spun out that I just may end up doing this sooner than I had planned just to put this argument to rest once and for all, (if I’m wrong about which is heavier, I’ll eat my words ). I am currently pulling a VH45DE out of my ’96 Q-45 and will be pulling the VG30DE out of my ’93 Z-32 some time later this year, and I also have access to a complete VG30DE and VG30DETT. You guys are killing me… I would love nothing more than to find that the VH45DE is indeed lighter than the VG30DE and VG30DETT by ANY amount, but normal logic does not support that fantasy. Uh, you might go back and read that thread again. 478 lbs with NO accessories, no intake, no P/S, no Alternator, and only one exhaust manifold. Same poster then went on to say that the weight went over 500 lbs just by throwing the intake manifold on top, still NO ACCESSORIES! The other thread has NOTHING concrete to support that 100 lbs claim. There was mention of shipping weight, overall car weight, but NO mention of similar like engines with specific weights of each. Correct, they are not made equally, but they are the same in basic architecture, head design, etc and as such, any weight difference by “design” is going to be minimal at best, NOT 100 lbs worth. And if the weight difference were 100lbs, it would be that the VH is the heavier by 100lbs, which to me is believable. Not the other way around. I can’t believe that those two small turbos are that much heavier than the two extra pistons, 2 con rods, 8 valve’s, 8 valve springs, 8 rockers, that much more camshaft, another crank throw, extra cast aluminum material for the heads and block, etc.

Well, those are Schneider cams that MSA sells and you “should” be able to trust the timing marks, but in all honesty you should double check the cam timing on the cam card against what you installed using a degree wheel. Just as with everything that you purchase in life, there is always that chance that the cam you received could’ve been ground first thing on Monday morning the day after the company party and the person setting up your particular cam blank in the grinder wasn’t able to index it correctly for lack of mental capacity, etc. Read this thread entirely… http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=111523 Hope that helps, Paul

Now you really have my curiosity peaked. So you are building an N/A L-28. Is this a dedicated mega RPM race engine or a just a hot street engine? So you have a piston manufacturer picked out, and now are looking at rods. Have you looked into cranks yet? If your build up “requires” aftermarket rods, then you really need to pick out a crank as well for reliability issues because the stock rods with some minimal prep will outlast the stock crank. (The OE bottom end is bomb proof to everything except, oil starvation, and extreme RPM). Being as you are purchasing aftermarket pistons, rods and crank, I’m assuming you’ll be taking full advantage of all that money being spent on those custom ordered pieces and are wisely building this engine with as much displacement as possible, i.e. custom stroker billet crank, custom “long” rods, custom pistons for those cool "long" rods and long stroke billet crank, etc… If money is spent not only for the best name in manufacturing, it only follows that those custom exotic pieces help produce as much power as possible! You can easily drop $10,000 into the bottom end all for a mere 300-320 HP. Then you still have the head to deal with which is where the power comes from and can easily add $5000 or more in head work, cam, valves, etc. There are much easier and less expensive paths to that much and even more power for a hot street engine. For record setting race only engines, you'll need all the reliability that those exotic parts offer. FWIW, if you don’t plan to spin it past 8000 PRM very often, the OE crank and rods are totally up to the task in an N/A application. Within these limits, exotic parts are nothing more than “bragging” pieces on the "show&shine" plaque. The engines actual performance should dictate the exoticness of the parts used. If maximum performance is what you are seeking, not just a brag list for a “show&shine” plaque, then give a call to Sunbelt or Rebello and have them quote a "build up" to the power level you are seeking. Trust me, that engine will produce more power, be more reliable, and cost you less than if you built it yourself with all those cool exotic parts. Hope that helps, Paul

Well, the firing order of the L-6 is actually 1-5-3-6-2-4. Make absolutely sure that your ignition system is sparking in that order! The firing order of the L-6 is something that you can not change or alter! If your spark plug wires are NOT wired in the firing order I just listed above, then that IS why you are getting intake back fires, (also could be injector pulse width being too short, i.e. lean misfires.) Your crank trigger might also be an issue. For the Z-32 ECU to work properly, it really needs the Z-32 optical CAS. The Z-32 unit has 2 rows of slots, (see pics below). One row has 6 slots, all of which are different lengths. The other row has 360 slots in one degree increments. The Z-32 CAS can and has been succesfully adapted to the L-6. Ron Tyler has done just that on an L-6 powered show car in our shop currently. Here is that actual Z-32 wheel with an extra “sync” hole drilled to be used with the WOLF Stand alone EMS, and an excerpt from the factory Z-32 service manual… That same info can be found in the “online” Z-32 factory service manual here.. http://www.300zx-twinturbo.com/cgi-bin/manual.cgi?list=efec&dir=&config=&refresh=&direction=forward&scale=0&cycle=off&slide=14&design=default&total=190'>http://www.300zx-twinturbo.com/cgi-bin/manual.cgi?list=efec&dir=&config=&refresh=&direction=forward&scale=0&cycle=off&slide=14&design=default&total=190 Here is the index. If you don’t have the Nissan Z-32 manual, this is your new best friend… http://www.300zx-twinturbo.com/cgi-bin/manual.cgi As for your injectors and the order/sequence in which they pulse, your engine will run just fine with them in any firing/pulsing order. If they are out of sequence in any manner or combination whatsoever, that alone will NOT cause your engine to misfire, I repeat, that alone will NOT cause the engine to misfire or run substandard. In fact, as long as everything else is as it should be, (i.e. the ignition firing order and the Injector pulse width matches what the cylinder need in regards to keeping the proper air fuel ratio, i.e. not too lean or too rich), the engine will run just fine with the injectors pulsing in ANY combination or sequence, (remember the OE Datsun EFI fired ALL the injectors at once, i.e. batch fire, even though the intake valves were opening in the 1-5-3-6-2-4 sequence)! As for the engine being able to run and run well, the engine really doesn’t care WHEN the injectors are open and closing as long as they are all supplying the correct amount of fuel. If the mixture is too lean, you can get random lean misfires out the intake. The benefits of properly sequenced sequential injector firing, is a slightly cleaner/crisper idle, slightly cleaner emissions, and possibly, but not necessarily, crisper throttle response. Over all engine performance and drivability, (as felt/heard by the driver), will be the same no matter what the sequence/order the injectors are pulsing in. The driver of the car would NOT be able to tell the difference! Hope that helps, Paul

If you are not running sensitive electronics, i.e. EFI, DIS, some form of data logging or other onboard computer, etc, then Jacobs, MSD, Mallory etc are all good “quality” performance wires. If you are running EFI or other sensitive computerized electronics, then Magnecor or Nology are your ONLY options (and they are EXCELLENT wires BTW), as ALL other wires, can and will affect those electronics to some degree, depending on installation, grounding, shielding etc, some more than others. Just search “resets” in the Mega squirt section of this forum and you’ll see SEVERAL issues that when finally resolved, most, if not all ended up being EMF from inexpensive ignition high tension leads. Hope that helps,

Oliver and Pauter are very well known as being some of the biggest player in the con rod market. Just curious, what are you building that requires such an exotic con rod?

For stock EFI and a stock cam and stock 2” throttle valve, (the throttle shaft was profiled), The car was pretty quick and ran hard. (This is the same daily driver 280 Z that received a very mild SBC that ran 12.3 @ 113 MPH on street tries). With the L-28, it fought for traction through all of 1st gear with just throttle application, and in 2nd gear you could coax wheel spin with the clutch. It did have a nice header with 1 5/8” primaries, originally ran a dual 1 3/4” exhaust then made it dual 2”. I ported the N-47 head with extensive valve unshrouding, recurved the distributor and over a period of 4 years tuning and fiddling with AFM, water temp resistance, and ignition timing, (I ran a BUTT load of ignition advance in that 8:1 compression ratio L-28), I had it running in a pretty good state of tune, again for a stock cam and stock EFI system that is. Several members on this forum have ridden in and driven the car during that time, Ron Tyler, Savage42, burrl, tube80z, Dave Lum of http://www.datsuns.com, and a few others. It was impressive, but only from the standpoint of the stock cam and stock EFI system. Compared to mildly built and properly tuned set ups with better breathing induction systems, bigger cams, stand alone EMS or carbs, my L-28 was just ho-hum. Pretty much any L-28 powered street Z is capable of running Low 14’s and even 13’s with aftermarket injection, aftermarket intake manifold, a nice bumpy stick under the cam cover, (of course headers, exhaust, lightened flywheel), and some time getting the set up totally dialed in. There are MUCH quicker N/A L-6 powered Z cars on this forum, I can think of two that run in the high 12”s in the 1/4 mile, N/A! Norm and 1-fast-z are both running 12.8 N/A! Norm is doing it on SU carbs, 1-fast-z on a custom built intake manifold and Mega Squirt EFI. Any how, here is a pic of my mostly internally stock L-28 engine…

’75 280 Z, 2700 lbs, lowered a little, stock dished piston L-28 short block, stock EFI, stock cam, header, and my port work, recurved ignition advance, Jacobs ignition coil and wires, lightened flywheel, early 5 speed, 3.54 R-200, 195 60 HR 14” tires, I recorded several 30 MPG runs between Medford and Eugene up and down I-5, (170 miles one way), with the dual 1.75” exhaust, and when I switched to dual 2”, my best freeway MPG dropped to 28 MPG. Car ran consistent 0-60 MPH in 5.7 second and ran the 1/4 mile in 14.4 @ 97 MPH, this was back in the mid ‘90’s.

Are you using an OE GM ECU? Is it getting a vehicle speed signal from the tranny? Is it possible the speed signal that is being read by the ECU is now different than what it is used to seeing? i.e. the GM ECU has a preprogrammed a speed governor and if the speed input pulses from the speed sensor on the tranny reach a certain point, the ECU will engage the speed governor. Just a thought.

Ooops. I just read Mikes request. Sorry Mike, I was just wanting some clarification on a previously posted concept. If I’m out of line in that question, please accept my apology and I’ll refrain from further posts.. Paul

Couldn’t you just lay the intercooler flat/horizontally, taking up the space between the lower core support and upper portion of the front air dam which would simplify the intercooler installation and ducting as pictured below? Let the intercooler be the restriction to air flow that is going under the car from the pocket just ahead of the radiator. Is there enough air flow “wanting” to go under the car in that region for this to work?

This evening I went out and took a few shots of my Z-32 out in front of the house as the only pics I had of the cars exterior were the “Autotrader” ad pics. Any how, I thought it might be sort of cool to start a “Z-car photo shoot” thread showcasing creative quality (and tasteful), pics of our beloved Hybrid, or soon to be Hybrid Z cars. I have seen some outstanding pics of members cars here and thought it would be nice to showcase them all in one thread. SOOooo Lets see your creative quality pics of your Z cars… Here are a few shots I took this evening from a quick impromptu 10 minute photo shoot in front of the house. (These Z-32’s seem to be quite photogenic.. I’ll have to spend some time setting up a cleaner back drop next time around…).

Very nice. Keep us posted as you get the tuning dialed in...

I’ll give my $.02 on this. As for the oil shedding myth, using glyptol, or any paint does not necessarily add squat in regards to oil shedding value. Before you go beating me to a pulp on this and posting references from all those ridiculous HOT ROD magazine articles, think about it for minute. Once you coat ANY surface with oil, whether it is painted, coated, or as cast, the oil will shed off of itself once it has already been coated in oil! Painting the interior of an engine does indeed help in sealing the pores of the casting and also helps reduce the tendency of casting flash to dislodge under extreme conditions. Also, (as mentioned above), based on the paint or coatings “R” value, you may realize some heat absorption or rejection that the builder/designer deemed worthy in that region. But the primary purpose of painting the interior of an engine is not for oil shedding. Just my $.02

Looks good. Thanks for posting. I realize that you are only so far into this conversions currently, but I was hoping that you might be able to answer a few questions? 1) What transmission are you using for mock up? 2) For manual transmission conversions such as the T-56, where does the shifter come through the tunnel in relation to the OE Z-32 shifter? 3) What style of headers are you planning to use with the engine in this position? 4) What sort of exhaust routing are you planning, i.e., from the heads back? 5) How much firewall clearance is there for an HEI distributor? 6) What accessories are you planning to run and where will they be mounted, i.e. will you be able to use OE mounts and brackets? 7) What radiator are you planning to use, OE or aftermarket? 8) How much clearance is there between the water pump pulley/snout and the radiator? 9) Are the Z-32 heater hose and A/C line firewall penetrations able to remain in the stock locations? 10) How about the rest of the firewall penetrations, i.e. wiring etc? Thank you again for posting, Paul

I’m assuming you meant an L-6 and not an L-4 crank. Is this what you wanted? L-28 6 cylinder crank shaft.

The diff is the stock 3.54 ratio R-200, Lincoln Locker version, (welded spider gears). LOL… Those are just some REAL cheesy, old HARD plastic Good Year Eagle street tires. They were Round, Black in color and held air, that is about it….

I just read a write up on a small block those same people entered in the “Engine Masters Challenge”. They finished VERY respectable. I really liked their approach, and to learn they are fellow believers, Hallelujah Thank you for sharing.

Interesting view you presented. Thank you for your input. It is nice to read about what the top Echelons of sports car racing are up to in regards to EMS. With all due respect, in reading your post I feel that you are coming at this from a money being “little to no object” full tilt top echelon race team point of view. As Ron Tyler mentioned previously in this thread, it really boils down to what ones EMS needs are in regards to their application. Apparently your needs are on par with the WRC, F-3, and other top echelons of sports car racing. Features such as Telemetry are cool and all, but those kind of features that benefit full tilt race teams do add considerable financial expense that is hard to justify for us hobbyist, let alone make use of. Most of us Hybrid Z guys probably don’t have telemetry on our EMS “must have list” at least not until we are ready to start competing in WRC or F-3 with our Z cars. Your points are well proven, and as you stated, yes, they are indeed “credible”. In keeping this in perspective, we don’t have multi million dollar factory support, deep pocket sponsors etc. Granted, if we could, we would love to play with those incredibly powerful EMS that are being used on the WRC cars, but I have a hard time believing that the actual EMS that is used on those quoted winning WRC cars is even remotely close to the same systems that is available over the counter for us average consumers, and if they are available, at what cost would that be? I’m pretty sure that the internals of those top echelon winning EMS are NOT what is available to the general public in those same companies over the counter products. Even if that same EMS was available over the counter, it will be substantially more $ than the systems this thread has been talking about. Those top Echelon race teams invest lots of money and time into prototyping what we the consumer will see in our “over the counter” EMS 5 years from now. For the 99% of the engines powering cars on this forum, I would venture to guess that there really shouldn’t be much if any POWER difference between the currently mass produced over the counter EMS such as Wolf V500, Haltec, Electromotive, AEM, and all the others available in similar price brackets. The over the counter universal and plug-&-play systems mentioned in this thread are all capable and powerful enough with fine enough resolution and speed to manage the fuel and ignition to a level that most of us here would be hard pressed to better with a substantially more powerful EMS system such as what is currently being used on those quoted WRC cars. Even if those systems were worth 5% more power on our Hybrid Z cars, how much more are we going to pay for that WRC winning EMS system? (If they are indeed worth more power on our Hybrid-Z power plants, I’d bet it won’t be more than 3-5% more power for at least 200+% more cost). In regards the crap load of stuff you stated that Wolf is missing, how long ago was that test performed and exactly which Wolf system was that? Your information is inaccurate, or at least quite dated. The Wolf V500, and even the Wolf version 4 DOES support multiple maps. Again, I’m not trying to be disrespectful and I do appreciate your input in regards to the factory backed racing teams EMS technology, but I am struggling with the connection between those elite prototype Engine Management Systems and the Engine Management Systems we are discussing in this thread.